.

So....taking this up where we left off...




Everything was quiet a Ste-Rosalie.

Quiet?

Really ?

Not today!

There's lots of people and vehicles at the Ste-Rosalie "Agricole Idéal" - a supplier of various seeds and
other agricultural products that serves the local region - which is farmland and such.




But why such a gathering ?

.

We'll get back to Ste-Rosalie later...




In the meantime in Drummondville everything seems quiet ...



No trains


No sounds except the background buzz of the city


Nothing to report

.

However at the station (on the other side) it's another story.


Obviously people are waiting for the local daily passenger train from Quebec city, somewhat early as it turns out.

.

Amids the background noise filters an unfamiliar accent coming out of the station...



" What can I help you with ? " said the local station agent.

" We are looking for direction to St-Hyacinthe Monsieur" said a young man with a thick French accent.

" You're not from around here hey ? and that little car over there is yours, right ? " said the agent pointing to the
unfamiliar car outside:






" Oui monsieur l'agent, that iz our car, we are from Trois-Rivières , but we come from Brest in France " said the young man

" My name is Joe and this is my sister Zette" said the young man

" Enchanté, my name is Gilles. The next Train for St-Hyacinthe is not for another hour ...and...." said the station agent.

" Oh non! Monsieur l'agent ! We are looking for the quickest way, by car, to get there .." Interrupted Joe.

" Ha! said Gilles" a bit perplexed. " The quickest way? By car? I guess you're used to the TGV, and since we don't have one in Canada...
anyway, the quickest way is when you leave the station go North and follow the direction for A20 ouest (highway 20 west) you cannot miss it " said Gilles

" Merci monsieur Gilles. Very nice of you " said Joe. and on that note him and his sister left the station and went back to their car

.
and as luck would have it, they left in their strange little car in the opposite direction....

.

Meantime in St-Hyacinthe at Charle & Oscar Recycling Depot...


CN came over late in the afternoon and dropped a replacement boxcar for the missing one [that ended up in France] due to their negligence.



At first glance there's nothing to write home about, or more importantly to make Charle & Oscar happy about it.

It looked like it was taken from the "dead line" of boxcar: Beat up, badly rusted, and to add insults to injuries no reporting mark
to track it!




Charle and Oscar would have been unhappy to says the least. But they are no longer at work.
They have left and the part-time worker, Roger, has taken over in their absence





I wonder where they went ....

.
While all this was taking place, something was amiss at Ste-Rosalie.
There's some loud grumbling going on...



People from various farms gathered at " Agricole Idéal " the local distributor and they are not happy !
Even the more restrained Jean-Louis is present. Coming out of his splendidly restored 1970 Dodge Van he loudly grumbled:

"Non-de-Dieu, there's no way! " said Jean-Louis amongst the crowd

" So what exactly is going on ? " said Patrique has he was stepping away from his Honda

" What ? You haven't heard ? Look around ! Even le Belge is here ! said Jean-Louis.

He was pointing at the tall, older Robert, who was, evidently , from Belgium. He came here a very long time ago to start fresh and had a smaller size
farm, growing Brussels Sprouts ( Chou de Bruxelle ).

You could always spot Robert no matter where he went, because he brought his Renault R4 with him all those years ago.



" Ha!" Said Patrique. " So it is that bad after all ?"

" Yes it is " said Jean-Louis





What were they referring to?

.


It might have something to do with this short train coming over :






Yes, it is definitely coming over to spot a car at Agricole Idéal:






Carefully but surely the engine brought the car over amongst the protesting crowd and loud grumbling:






So what is the big deal you say ?


The co-owner of " Agricole Idéal " who resides in Montréal and who never came to Ste-Rosalie once, had the great idea
of buying, importing, and delivering some potent agricultural chemical...or so the rumour goes..

As soon as the local heard about it they came in far and wide to protest.

The warehouse foreman was getting apprehensive as well..


" Look! It is so corrosive and toxic that they put it as far as the locomotive cab as possible ! " Loudly exclaimed Jean-Louis to the crowd

" Send it back ! " said Patrique as Robert looked over disapprovingly.



For a second it looks like someone was about to climb the loco and get in the cab !!!




But not all is what it seems......

As always, nice story telling and great weathering. How did you weather your P1K NSC newsprint boxcars. It's very realistic and not overdone.

I was curious, are you planning to model the old CPR crossing and junction at Drummondville?

Matt

Quote:by sailormatlac » Sat Feb 28, 2015 11:01 pm

As always, nice story telling and great weathering. How did you weather your P1K NSC newsprint boxcars. It's very realistic and not overdone.

I was curious, are you planning to model the old CPR crossing and junction at Drummondville?

Matt

Salut Matt !

Merci! That is very kind of you. Weathering? I use either gouache, water-based color pencils, or oil. It that case (the boxcar) it is gouache
with a fine tip paint brush. To be honest it looks better in the pictures then it does in real-life.

I do not know if I will [CPR crossing] since space is at premium in that section - Drummondville- however maybe in the future.


Thanks again

Syl

Awesome modelling.....your weathering always blows me away..love the rusted out boxcar!!!!!

Syl,

Enjoyed your latest chapter of the story and I am continually awed by your scenery and weathering.

Bruce

The LRC

[attachment=22948]

Hello

It has been a while, and now that it is summer the layout progress is in slow motion, which is fine.
So here's a few crappy pictures of the latest progress on "Gare Central ". There's lots to be done
but for the moment it works. The pictures do not do justice to it of course , and it certaintly do not
show the lenght of it, which is 14 feet long!

Nevertheless here's some pictures.